pissed off- can't get rid of surface gunk!!!!

[bongobrian]

Alright this sucks... I can't figure out how to get rid of the surface "film" floating on the top of my water . I recently purchased a preskimmer for my bakpak2 and let me just say that is a waste of money. If someone is looking for a solution to surface film, this is not one of them. I'm going to try and get my money back. The real issue here is that I'm still battling with this stuff on the top of my water... whatever it is. I think it looks a lot like oil (which probably came from my own skin). The thing I can't figure out is why havn't my tanks in the past ever had this oily film?? does anyone out there have any ideas how I can get rid of this stuff? I hate going home and being horrified at the site of my tank I'm sure you all know how I feel when something goes wrong with your tank. So what should I do guys?? help me out. I've tried the surface agitation thing using powerheads and it doesn't help... it just pushes the stuff around on the surface but doesn't clean it out. Are there any other products I should try? I'd like to know how this oil is getting in the tank in the first place.... it's not like I'm sticking my arms in there all the time. I don't get it. Any help is appreciated! thanks guys.

[Reinhold]

The two solutions to this problem consist of adequate surface agitation and adequate skimming. The key word is adequate.

If you still have surface films, I'd suggest that one or either of these are still underpowered in your tank.

[bongobrian]

Thanks Reinhold,
Is a CPR BakPak2 enough for a 46 gal? yeah I've been thinking about purchasing another powerhead or two... I only have two at the moment. I've also heard about something called a wavemaker.. is this something I should look into? would it help?

[saltjunkie]

i used the surface skimmer on the cpr and it worked for me..... Did you have the whole thing submerged or just that lil angled part? You junt want a little bit of the angled part in the water, that way surface water has to come around into it ?

[bongobrian]

The surface of my water is about half way up the angled part... it isn't completely submerged. The little sponge on the skimmer is picking up a lot of gunk, but I still have plenty floating on my water. What is the best way of configuring the position of the powerheads so that the gunk is forced into the skimmer? Right now I have one power head in the top-left corner blowing to the right. My skimmer is on the back right-hand side. I have another powerhead in the lower right-hand side blowing to the left (to complete a counter clockwise flow). My skimmer's output tube is pointed to the left at about a 45 degree angle from the back glass. Someone once told me to get 4 powerheads. Put two at the back at the bottom, and point them towards each other, and put the other two at the front at the top and point them towards each other. Perhaps that would be a better configuration?

[naser]

the trick is to have the water fall into the surface skimming box not just float. put the box all the way to the top of the tank. make sure theres just enough water so it doesnt suck air but the water just falls into the box.

[bongobrian]

Thanks naser, I know exactly what you mean and I just thought of something else. My box has two other holes in it for adjusting the height. I'm wondering if I should plug up these holes so that the water flowing into the box is strictly coming from the top opening and not through these holes. Does anyone know if these boxes are supposed to come with plugs?

[Reinhold]

I don't know if that particular pre-skimmer box comes with plugs, but it will function best as naser said by having a waterfall effect draw only surface water into the box. Plug them up with whatever works. Your film should be gone in hours.

[bongobrian]

OK! cool thanks dudez, also do you think I should get more powerheads? or are two enough for a 46 gal? what kind do you recommend?

[Reinhold]

I have four powerheads in my 60 gallon show tank.

I recommend Maxi-Jet 1200 powerheads.

Placement requires alot of trial and error. Depending on where your corals are now, and what their current requirements are, you may have to move them around many times to find the right mix.

I personally don't have a wavemaker, nor do I have plans to get one.

[bongobrian]

Do you have them positioned for a circular water flow? or do you have them aimed at each other to create more turbulance?

[Reinhold]

All are on the back wall of the tank.

#1 on the right upper corner, pointing diagonally to left-front, aimed at surface for agitation.

#2 on right upper corner pointing down and to right-front of tank.

#3 on left upper corner, pointing up for agitation and across back of tank.

#4 behind and inside the rock work on left pointing diagonally to right-front through LR.

[Reinhold]

PS: very impressive personal web site!

[bongobrian]

Thanks for the compliment! I've been thinking about taking that site down and putting up a reef site. I'm not sure yet though. Anyway thanks for the advice, I will definitely be trying a few things this week to see if I can get nice clear water again.

[bongobrian]

Hey guys! I tried something out last night and it WORKED!!!!! well... so far so good anyway. Ok check this out, I removed the little sponge from the top of the preskimmer and I took two suction cups and put them over the other holes in the preskimmer box. I popped that sucker back on and in about 30 seconds all of the gunk floating on the top of my water was GONE!!! totally gone!! I am very excited and very happy thanks again everyone for your help. I can't stop stairing at my tank now, it looks so beautiful hehe thanks again.

I still think I want to buy another powerhead or two. Maybe I'll check out those Maxi Jets... a lot of peeps seem to like those.

[naser]

just be careful with covering those holes those are actually to keep the pump from runing dry.

[bongobrian]

naser- so you keep those holes open on yours? maybe I'll try opening them and see what kind of suction I get going into the top of the box. Also, do you use the small sponge? I removed it, but now I'm worried that maybe too much gunk will be going into the skimmer. I dunno maybe that's a rediculous concern. I emailed my LFS about plugging the two holes, and they said they forgot to give me plugs for them! I dunno... maybe I should just stick with whatever works.

[David]

I had the exact same problem in my stand alone 37 with Aqua-C Remora hang on skimmer, here's what I did: I decided the problem was that the flow into the pre-skim box was not strong enough so I drilled a 1/2 hole in side near the bottom and put a Rio 800 inside the box blowing out through the hole. This greatly increased the "skimming" action and poof- surface clear! Bonus is more water movement without seeing "ugly" powerhead. I also tried putting some filter media in to catch the gunk but gave up on that idea, I don't think it's necessary. Try it if you still have problems.

[bongobrian]

David- awesome idea bro! that's a very good approach and I can see how that would GREATLY increase the water flow into the skimmer. I don't think I really need to do that though, I'm getting enough flow into the skimmer right now since I took out the filter media. I'm glad you said you don't think it's necessary to have the filter media... I'm hoping that's true because mine is really doing well since I took it out.